Red Cheeks On Oto?

[FreshwaterFishie]

I was staring at the annoying cloudy water yesterday when I noticed my one Oto was skinny and has two small red dots on his face on each side of his mouth? What the heck? None of my other Otos have them and it is hard to tell with platies, as most of them have red colorations.

My digital camera died!!! Dumb thing. Sorry no pictures.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Do you have any recent stats for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates? What is the temp in the tank? How long have you had the oto's?

 

[FreshwaterFishie]

Do you have any recent stats for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates? What is the temp in the tank? How long have you had the oto's?

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
PH: 8.0
Carbonate Hardness (KH): 11°dKH or 196.9 ppm KH

It is about 72°F. I have had the Otos for 4 months or so.

 

[FreshwaterFishie]

Another Oto died last night. I couldn't tell if he was the one with red cheeks. He was flopping around at the bottom, belly a little sunken. They do not eat the algae tabs and they are quickly stolen by the other fish. I was thinking of getting those Veggie Clips and putting those Algae strips in them. I can't remember the name, they look like little strips of lettuce, but it is algae and they sell them at pet & fish stores.

I went to LFS today and got some advice and live plants for cloudy water. Not sure how the plants help, but they were free. The guy said it was from the high KH, but some people said it was from the eating problems.